Our Masterpiece….

Posted on August 24, 2013 by natalietrew

A dictionary defines a masterpiece as…the greatest work, as of an artist….
Let me reveal our masterpiece – which I think is the greatest work we’ve ever created….

Our 3 beautiful babies who make up our party of 5!

This week has been another long and busy one (so very normal lol)! But it was certain moments that happened in the week that made me pause and embrace our masterpiece for what it is…

We’ve been working on our masterpiece for 7 and half years now and it will forever be a work in progress. When moments like; watching your eldest wipe your youngest’s ice-cream face (without being asked to), being surprised by your 5-year-old when she took the washing off the line (without being asked to) and hearing your 2-year-old say to her big brother “you played well Bay” after his footy match (without being told to), just makes your heart melt. It’s moments like these that I can’t always capture in a photo, but will forever be implanted into my heart and memory bank! These moments define our masterpiece for what it is.

Mia excited to see Bailey after his footy game!

We’ve worked hard over the years to instill the values of; love, loyalty, kindness, trust and respect in our children. These are not things that our children are automatically born with, they’ve had to be consistently taught and guided on how to use these values appropriately. There are days where you feel like you’re a tape recorder on repeat – saying the same thing over and over again, but when moments happen where your children are displaying the desired values, it makes all the hard work of sounding like a broken record worth it!

In saying all of this, our masterpiece is far from perfect. Like any masterpiece, there are days when things flow and work beautifully and there are days that seem disastrous! But that’s where our learning comes from. We don’t let those days make us feel defeated, instead it makes you more determined to work harder on your masterpiece the next day! Like anything you take the good with the bad….I embrace the wonderful moments when they happen and strap on my seatbelt real tight on the days that seem like such hard work!

I’m so proud of our masterpiece so far. The love we share for each other, the support we give each other and the team work that is displayed within the home is something I love to just sit back and take in from time to time. This week I’ve found myself just sitting and watching with pride as our children, the ones only us created, have displayed some beautiful behaviours and manners. But it doesn’t stop here. Our masterpiece is like a puzzle with a million pieces that we just keep working on until it’s complete. It’s a work in progress, that may never get finished, for as long as we are on this earth, we will always be guiding our masterpiece through life!

Our babies are so worth the effort xoxo

A Freshen Up…

Posted on August 23, 2013 by natalietrew

Earlier in the week, I posted a blog called Spring has Sprung which listed many reasons why I love this time of year! One thing that I mentioned that I always do at this time of year is give my house a really good clean and along with that always comes some resorting and decorating! It’s the time of year where I like to give my home a freshen up!

We’ve lived in our house now for over a decade. It’s gone from a dark brick and yellow roof to a latte colour render and burgundy roof. We’ve converted our single garage into a lounge room, painted several feature walls, completed renovations on the kitchen, bathroom and pergola and added our touch to the front and back gardens. I’ve changed the decor more times than I can count lol, yet we still call our home, the place we call our castle, a work in progress!

We have discussed and even looked at the prospect of moving, but we always settle on staying in the place we have created so many memories in. It’s our first home. We brought all our babies home to this house. Kane asked me to marry him in our home and now the kids feel safe and secure in the place they call home! There are so many positives to staying here. We live in a cul-de-sac that the kids play on all the time. We live on a 900 square metre block and we have awesome neighbours. Most importantly we are surrounded by my beautiful family who help us out when we need it!

We have lots of vision for our house that involves a pool and room extensions. Plus if we stay where we are, I won’t have to rush back to work anymore than my two days a week and we will always be able to afford going away on holidays….the positives at the moment definitely out way the push to move!

So far this spring, I’ve gone through every room in the house, given it a good clean and sort and added some kind of new decor. I’ve changed some colour schemes and it’s amazing how one new decorating piece can brighten up a room. You would think that after living in the same dwelling for 10 years it would be in good order…the answer to that would be no lol! After this clean up and kull, I feel our house is the most organised it’s ever been. I’m evolving over time and so is our home…another 10 years and it should be exactly how we want it lol!

This is what I’ve created…
Kitchen

Our kitchen isn’t the largest in the world, but I’ve made it as practical as I can and love my red decor which matches with the red splash in my bench tops.

Our dining room table is where photos of my beautiful nana sit:)

This year’s handprints needed revamping to the whole display just to fit them in. Next year I’ll have to think of something!

Bathroom

I love my light and airy bathroom. I’ve gone with a hot pink and chocolate-brown decor which matches in well with my bedroom as it’s a two-way bathroom!

Our bedroom

After redecorating our bedroom last year, I finally gave in and have gone with a black, white and hot pink decor to match my canvases. I was a bit unsure about the black, but now I LOVE it!

Lounge room

I’ve kept my red and chocolate-brown decor in this room. My plan for the future in this room is a new corner lounge and carpet. We are just waiting for Mia to grow a little older:)

Toy room

My latest furniture purchase is our new desk from Ikea. It fits so nicely in the kid’s toy room and they love it!! I can’t believe it’s been a year since I gave the toy room a complete face lift!!

Out the back

Our dog ruined the bottom of our screen enclosure and took over the outdoor lounge setting. Thanks to Sunset Signs, we now have new coverings (to keep the dog out) with a beautiful ocean print and new pillows for the lounge. It’s the cleanest our pergola has been in months…lucky we love you Sonny!!!

Out the front

New pots and plants that I pottered using plants from our own garden. Thank you to my daddy who taught me all my gardening tricks!

Our new blinds

After 10 years our blinds we looking a bit sad and faded, so we replaced all the living areas and bedrooms with the wide timber blinds and the bathroom, toilet and kitchen areas with roman blinds. Thank you to my wonderful husband for installing them:)

That is what I’ve been working on over the past couple of months! So much achieved, yet I still have a list as long as my arm lol! My next big project over the christmas holidays is doing a major overhaul to the kid’s bedrooms (hence why I didn’t show any photos). The girls will be going in together and having an ‘owl’ theme and Bailey wants an ‘NRL’ theme. Another big project for this house and has been an ongoing room for years is my laundry – I will finish it even if it kills me lol!!!!

So watch this space for my latest projects in our very own castle!

Life After Death…

Posted on August 17, 2013 by natalietrew

As the softness of her breath became slower and slower and eventually became her last, her soul left our world and ventured into another…..

When nana left us 11 weeks ago, everything for us stopped. Our hearts broke, our tears fell and we felt like we were never going to be the same again. The lady who we loved and adored was never to be apart of our lives on earth again. As we left the hospital that day though, life on the outside kept going. Everything around us kept going like nothing had changed, but for us we had to come to terms with the biggest change in our lives so far! It was a hard pill to swallow at first. We were breaking on the inside but to the outside world nothing had changed!

The minutes kept ticking, days kept flashing by, traffic lights kept changing, the sun kept rising and trains kept passing by. The birds kept chirping, the postman kept delivering, grass kept growing and the bills kept rolling in. It’s an awful thought that once you leave this earth, life after death will never really be the same again for the loved ones who have lost – yet the world still can manage to exist….!

Today is my nana’s 81st birthday! It is the first birthday that we don’t get to give nana a present, kiss or cuddle. It’s the first birthday that we don’t get to enjoy a favourite meal of hers with her. It’s the first, so it hurts the most;( We are determined to keep nana’s memory alive and to never forget the unbelievable person she was, who taught us how to be strong and resilient! 80 years on this earth – working hard everyday of her life is nothing to forget!!! So to celebrate the day nana was born, we decided to make a day full of nana’s favourites:)….

Ahhh the memories…if only we could celebrate one more….

Because today is a work day, we celebrated nana’s birthday a little earlier on Saturday. We went out to the cemetery, took cupcakes and balloons, sang happy birthday to nana and placed flowers on her resting place! We laughed, we cried and spoke to nana as we know she is with us all the time…

That afternoon we went back to my sister’s house and indulged in all the delicious foods that were nana’s favourite and that she would cook us over the years. We had roast lamb with baked veggies and cheesecake and dumplings and custard for dessert…it was a beautiful way to remember and celebrate nana’s birthday!

Today is a harsh reminder that nana won’t be here to celebrate birthdays, Christmas and the like from now on. It’s another example of a day that will continue to roll by without nana present. But although she’s not physically with us anymore I believe and will always believe that nana is with us spiritually! She has to be. Life after death has to continue in the form of a spirit! I am a firm believer in angels and nana was an angel to me when she was living and forever she will be my angel walking beside me!

Happy birthday my beautiful angel! May you be celebrating with loved ones on the peak of roof tops, doing the hot shoe shuffle!

Moment of Glory….

Posted on August 11, 2013 by natalietrew

Today I achieved something I thought I never would! It’s almost 2 years since I took up the challenge of running and I’m so very happy that I did! For me running is many things. It’s my fitness, it’s my therapy, it’s helping me maintain my heart condition! When I started running I never thought I’d get to the point I’m at today. Initially I was happy just getting out there and regaining myself back after having three babies in 5 years! That feeling only lasted a few months. Once I got past the sore feeling and feeling like I can’t catch my breath, I went from only worrying about how long I could run for to how far I could run.

Month after month I started believing. Believing in myself that I could achieve anything that I want to. I was becoming stronger and stronger, week by week I was getting fitter and fitter. My ability to run 4km turned into 5km and 6km until I reached my target distance of 10km!! My personal best times were being improved on bit by bit as I just kept chipping away! But today’s personal best and run in general was the best run I’ve ever ran and it went something like this….

I woke up feeling amazing. It was the best night sleep I’d had in about two weeks. I was very excited to be wearing my new outfit that I bought through the week…Lorna Jane 7/8 black tights, Michelle Bridges hot pink racer back singlet and a white bonds sports bra! I felt ready, I felt so comfortable in my new outfit and my head was happy and clear. My plan was to go out hard and run 5km under 25 mins – that I did! I’ve been carrying a knee injury lately and it’s the best it’s felt in a few weeks so I was happy to get to 5km under 25 mins without it causing me to much grief!

The first 5km were the hardest because once I started the back half of my 10k, I felt amazing! When I reached the 7km in a pb time of 34.50 I knew there was nothing stopping me running 10km under 50mins. Usually by this point in my run I start to lose a few seconds each km from fatigue but I felt so fit and energised today like I could’ve ran a marathon! As each km kept rolling by I couldn’t believe my ears when I was being told by the Map My Run lady the times I was running – I was in disbelief….8km 39.30, 9km 44.09!!! The last kilometer usually feels like 10km in itself but as I kept putting one foot in front of the other and feeling on top of the world, it was over before I knew it! And there in that moment as I’d run the the run of my life and had finished as strong as I started I was granted the time of 48.54 minutes at 10km!!!!! I was in shock, absolute disbelief. In that moment I had created my own personal moment of glory!!!

As I walked the 2km to get back home, I kept shaking my head and was questioning what just happened. “Maybe the Map My Run App that I use was lying?” I said to myself! But I’d run that route before and it was pretty much my 5km route twice as I wanted to do a flat fast run today…well that I did!! I’ll never forget that moment I finished – I wasn’t sore, tired or breathless…I felt fit, fantastic and most of all happy and content that me, the person who use to want to hurl at the thought of running a kilometer let alone 10km had just achieved something special…in the land of the world of amateur running anyway:) lol! After today, I believe anything is possible and if you put the hard work in you will reap the rewards!!!

The Dark Side of Social Media!

Posted on July 18, 2013 by natalietrew

Facebook, Twitter, WordPress, Blogspot just to name a few are all fun and games until people start to get nasty! Over the past couple of days, I’ve come across a few bloggers who have felt they had to defend themselves from something they’ve put on their Facebook pages. One mum apologised for ‘bragging’ about something great her children have done and another mum felt she had to defend herself as a ‘fit enough’ mother as she posted a photo of her three children sitting on her kitchen bench! What the?? Seriously people where is the nice positive energy that this already filled with hatred and filth earth needs!!!

I was completely taken aback when I was reading what these mums felt they had to say to clear their names of any misdoing! Last night I was reading a piece from one mum’s blog about how someone had left their condolences for the tragic accidental passing of her young son, but then went on to say how as parents we must never take our eyes off our children. She was guttered. She lives with guilt everyday but some despicable person had to lay judgement and make her feel worse! I’m an avid blogger and Facebook fan. It is my choice to put myself, my life, my thoughts and ideas out there to be judged and scrutinised, but one would hope that people would keep their negative comments to themselves. Thankfully for me, I have had nothing but positive feedback from my viewers and anyone who thinks otherwise has kept their comments to themselves! But obviously that’s not always the case for everyone….

Social media is such a huge part of most people’s everyday lives these days, which can be a good and bad thing, but it really comes with a dark side! I guess like anything it’s great when it’s all positive, but can leave someone feeling terrible when things start turning negative! It’s so easy for someone to leave a nasty comment or statement when they aren’t meeting face to face with people, but it still demonstrates how awful people can be! Quite often I’ll read something on Facebook or in someone’s blog post that I may not agree with, but I would never write anything that would leave a person feeling angry or upset…even if they don’t know me from a bar of soap! Sometimes things are best to be left unsaid!!!

The group of people who often are an easy target is usually us mums! And most times it’s other mums having their negative opinion!! It seems to be the minute a parenting topic arises it opens up a can of worms for competition! Or the minute someone is beaming with pride and happiness, someone is swooping in telling them their bad luck story to drag them down – Facebook is so bad for this!!! When I read this week about the mum who apologised for always sharing good news stuff about her life because people left comments about how her ‘happy’ life made them feel bad – it made me think do people feel like that about me?!?! I’m one of those people who instagram, blog and Facebook all the great things that happen in my life!! I could post all the time about the negative stuff, but where would that get me?!?!? I know it takes all types for the world to go round, but it would be so nice if we could all be happy for each other when things are going right and support it each other when things are tough!

I guess the point of writing this blog post is certainly not to stir the social media pot (which is being done enough by a lot of people all over the world) but to post this in the hope that some of the people who don’t think before they comment read this and think twice next time! I know once we decide to post something on a social media forum we leave ourself open to judgement, but it would be nice to think that the good old fashion moral of ‘if you haven’t got anything nice to say then don’t say anything at all’ would apply! My biggest concern from this sort of thing happening now is that kids are jumping on the social media bandwagon younger and younger…like I said above, this world is already full of so much hate and filth, let’s all jump on the positive side of life…it’s so much nicer on this side!!!

Keep the Faith!

Posted on July 18, 2013 by natalietrew

This time last year our life took a massive turn for the worst…my husband was without a permanent job! It was a position in the 10 years we’d lived together that we had never faced before! In fact it was a position that either of us had ever faced in our lives! It left us feeling shattered, insecure and wondering if we were able to keep up paying all of our bills! Thankfully Kane has wonderful mates who threw him casual work as much as they could! Beggers can’t be choses in a time like this and I appreciate everyday how hard my husband worked to keep us afloat!

I as the budget guru of our house, managed to keep our head above water. It’s times like this I appreciate my love of saving, because it sure came in handy! I never looked at this situation as poor us, because I knew there were so many more people worse off than us. Thankfully we have a very supportive family who could help us if we needed it and if things came to things I would have had to go back to work more than my two days. But it didn’t get that bad! From Kane’s pure determination and dedication to finding a permanent job, something eventually fell into his lap! It was a ‘not what you know but who you know situation’, but without his skills for the position he wouldn’t have been able to for fill the role!

I’m so happy to say that after going though such instability for months and months last year, we are finally back on track like our lives have always been!!! It’s taken a while, but we’re good, we’re comfortable and most importantly we’re happy and still married lol! Kane is loving the role at his job and November marks one year already! We just bought a new car – a seven seater sports wagon and we are just about to give our house a freshen up with new blinds and carpet and book a two week holiday at Christmas time!!!!!

For the period that Kane was working casually, we had to watch every single cent we spent. I learnt so much from it and in actual fact it brought the realisation to the fore that we really did waste money! I guess when you’re faced with the situation we were and we still had two mortgages to pay off, plus bills and feed five of us, we had no choice but to prioritise. We gave up things like going out to dinner and takeaway and picked and chose places that were inexpensive and we always took plenty of food when we went on outings! The best thing I’ve learnt in all of this is the art of grocery shopping for 5 people a week for $200!!

In all of this, I haven’t felt like we’ve missed out on anything. Sure we didn’t do everything we normally would have done in that period of time, but never did our children complain or even realise what we were going through! I always live by the belief that as long as we have each other, then we’ll always make it through anything! And that is what I believe got us to the comfortable point we are today! We kept our faith and we never stopped believing. Everyday I would say to myself “it will happen, things will turn our way!”….that belief is finally paying off!

My Budgeting Tips….
1. Save for a rainy day! For us we put as much as we can into our home loan which helps reduce the interest but keeps the redraw increasing and is there when needed!

2. Grocery shop wisely! I have a budget of $200 for groceries per week and this covers 5 well prepared meals (which I have planned before I shop), a scraps night (eggs on toast or leftovers) and one night a week takeaway! I prepare lunches for everyone all week and the kids get tuckshop once a week! I have found myself a really good fruit and veggie shop where I spend $20-$25 a week and get 4 bags full of stuff!

3. Have specific savings accounts! I have a few accounts that I put money into for specific things….Christmas, holidays and the kids have an account each as well. It certainly comes in handy for when the times swing around and the money is needed!

4. Spend within your means! We have a credit card for obvious reasons, but we don’t use it unless we can pay it back! I really dislike owing money and if I have to pay for something on my credit card, I transfer the money straight onto it! We only purchase things that we can afford to without it ‘breaking the bank’…my husband is very lucky that I am the bargain shopper of bargain shoppers!!

5. Have a plan! Most importantly have a budget/plan for your money! Now that we are settled and it’s a new financial year, we have just started our new budget that allows us to pay our mortgage and more, save, pay bills and provide ourselves with some comforts in life!

I cannot stress enough that none of us know what’s around the corner and it’s so important to expect the unexpected or at least be prepared as much as you can be financially! When we were faced with this situation last year, it was a shock! But we’ve picked ourselves up, dusted ourselves off and have learnt so much from a not ideal situation! We are also now insured for loss of income and death…sounds morbid but I’d rather be prepared then lose everything that we’ve worked so hard to provide for our party of 5!

Establishing a Happier You!

Posted on July 14, 2013 by natalietrew

My Party of 5

Life is so much more enjoyable when you are happy! To me things flow better, chores get done more efficiently, decisions are made more easily and when life throws a curve ball at you, instead of resisting it and curling up in the fetal position, you have enough mental strength to face it head on! For almost two years now, I’ve been working on a new me – a happier me! Finding out about my heart condition really put things into perspective for me…the mantra I live by now is ‘we only have one chance at life, so it’s up to us to make a good go of it!’

I’ve always been a happy person who loves to laugh and have a good time, but over the years, I would let things get to me and get me down. I would stress over the smallest of things and crack up…

View original post 491 more words

Establishing a Happier You!

Posted on July 10, 2013 by natalietrew

I’ve always been a happy person who loves to laugh and have a good time, but over the years, I would let things get to me and get me down. I would stress over the smallest of things and crack up at the kids and lose my patients at very little. For a long time there while I was pregnant and breastfeeding one baby after the other, I was running on empty. Lack of sleep, teaching two days a week, raising three children and running a house became overwhelming! For me the turning point was finding out about my heart. Although not a ‘happy’ situation to be faced with, once I got my head around what I was living with, it changed the way I started looking at life! Instead of wrapping myself up in cotton wool, I’m grateful and happy that I know about my heart and I work hard everyday to keep myself fit and healthy to help my condition!

I believe I’ve evolved over time. I’ve grown to appreciate the small things in life. As normal human behaviour has it, we always want what we can’t or don’t have, when really we should be happy with what we’ve got! These days I purely focus on that. I may not have a huge fancy house, drive a BMW or wear designer clothes…I have so much more to be happy about! I have a loving husband, three beautiful children, a devoted family and a number of fabulous friends…not an ounce of money could buy me that!

At the end of the day, like anything, being happy is a choice! The first step to being happy is wanting to be. From there it’s up to the individual to do things that make them happy. For me that involves lots of things….
*spending time with my party of 5
*cuddles with my babies
*laughing with my husband and children
*dinner date with my husband
*seeing my babies happy
*spending time with my family
*date with my mum and sisters
*chatting to my mum
*time with my friends and their babies
*running
*keeping fit and eating healthy
*baking and cake decorating
*my nana’s beautiful face
*playing around on instagram apps
*having a tidy house
*getting my hair done
*shopping
*painting my nails
*writing blogs
*knowing I’ve helped someone
*being organised
*the sunshine
*going on holidays…just to name a few:)

I feel very blessed everyday for what my life holds. And although we’ve been through some terribly sad times this year and throughout my life, I still try so hard everyday to focus on being happy and appreciating what I have. For me positive thinking and patience comes so much more naturally now and I believe my happiness has contributed to this! I also believe that when you are happy, everyone seems happier around you. When I wake up every morning I’m happy, because I feel blessed that I’ve been granted another day with the beautiful people that I love…and then I go like a crazy women to fill my day with as much as I can….and this makes me happy!

Smile and be happy…we have so much to be happy about!

Happiness breeds happiness….

A Moment of Silence…

Posted on July 10, 2013 by natalietrew

Shhh….can you hear that?
It’s a moment of silence!!
No one is speaking, shouting, calling out mummy!
No one is crying, debating, questioning or whingeing.
It’s in this moment of silence that I draw strength from to get through my day…

I love being a mum, the best job in the world, but it can leave you feeling overwhelmed, exhausted and a little bit moody if you don’t take the time to recharge! Being a mum doesn’t mean you are automatically invincible…we are still human and human’s have feelings, emotions and needs to be met. Our priority is our children and making sure they are being nurtured and cared for like treasure, but we as mums still need to look after ourselves so we can keep fighting the good fight each and everyday!

Do you manage to get a moment of silence?
Once the day begins it’s full of feeding, dishes, making lunches, sorting uniforms, homework, dropping kids to school or recreational activities, washing, folding, house work cooking, shopping and spending time playing with the kids! There isn’t a lot of time in there for moments of silence except when you’re sleeping – and if you have a child who is a terrible sleeper, even that doesn’t happen then! I love my moment of silence. Whether it’s for half an hour, two hours or fifteen minutes, it’s enough time for me to regather my thoughts enough to (depending on when it is) start the day or finish off the rest of the day!!

I need this time to debrief with myself over any major issues that are happening, organise stuff without little ones hanging off me or just to rest and rebuild! For my moment of silence to happen I have to be in a good routine and be super organised. It’s taken a while to establish all of this and usually when I’d think I’d gotten it down pat, another baby would come along to make it even more tricky! These days, now the kids are a little older and 2 out of three are in school, I manage a couple of hours a day for my moment of silence while Mia has her day sleep (that’s only on my non working days)! I also exercise about 3-4 hours per week which is another essential part of my life now and allows time for a moment of silence as well:)!

What to you do when you manage a moment of silence?
There are so many things I love to do when I get the chance to have a moment of silence! I’m like a kid in a candy store if I know I have some time ahead of me to myself! Time – that word in the english dictionary should have ‘precious’ next to it, as that is what time is! When I’m granted time to myself I use it wisely and try to utilise it to its maximum!

My moments of silence involve me….
*catching up on my tv shows
*folding washing (I know boring but I don’t like ‘help’ with this job lol)
*blogging
*facebooking
*catching up on messages
*paying bills
*painting my nails/toenails
*straightening my hair
*relaxing on my sun lounge
*running or walking
*instagraming
*crafting

Having a moment of silence doesn’t mean you’re neglecting your job as a mother or wife, especially if it’s incorporated into your daily routine and balanced in with the rest of your crazy busy life! Remember mummas we are only human and if we don’t allow just a little bit of time for ourself each day, life will feel like ground-hog day, which after a while gets mentally frustrating and creates unnecessary angst and stress! And we all know a happy mumma is a better mumma:)!

The Big 5!!!

Posted on June 30, 2013 by natalietrew

5 years ago on the 30th of June at 11.55am, my beautiful 10p 2oz baby girl was born. I still remember like it was yesterday pulling her from my inner soul to discover she was a girl!!!! I was so over joyed. After having a boy first, I really wanted a little girl and my wish was granted! She was MASSIVE (lol) but oh so devine. She never whimpered once and looked around at us all as if to say “I’m ready to take on this world!”

Sienna Lynette Trew has been a shining star from the minute she took her first breath on this earth. She is kind. She is thoughtful. She is so beautiful and sweet but also very funny and feisty! She never wants for much and is so easy to please. She has an anxiety attack if you mention the word dress (lol) and would prefer to wear shorts and joggers over skirts and ballet flats, but she has a great sense of style of her own. Sienna is the type of child to give you her last bite of food if you were starving or her last dollar if you were broke…she is just amazing!!!

Sienna was so so excited to be turning 5 this year, after all it is a whole hand worth of fingers to hold up now!!! And after what has been such an emotional month for our family, it was a lovely way to end the month on a happy note for once. Now that Sienna is in school, she had several celebrations…..

First was her school celebrations where I baked a batch of cupcakes for her and her fellow prep H students. They all sang happy birthday to her and enjoyed eating their cupcakes for morning tea…

Second was her party with her friends. Sienna was in control of her guest list and food, I just went out and bought and baked it all for her. She knew exactly what she wanted. I offered to put a tea party on with a few of her girl friends but she insisted on having her closest boy friends invited so the park it was. The day was spoilt by the weather, but that didn’t stop all the kids from having a ball….

The third and final day of celebrations was her official birthday which was yesterday! She is becoming so particular with what she wants it’s so adorable! Her request was straight hair and nails painted like me:), bowling with the family and of course lots of cake! For presents her only request was a microphone. So by granting her all of this, we had one very happy 5 year old on our hands yesterday….

The Cake:
Due to the passing of my dear nana at the beginning of the month and the weeks of her being in hospital leading up to her passing, I haven’t baked or decorated a cake or cupcake since grandad’s birthday on April 20th. That day, unbeknown to us, was the last birthday in the family celebrated with nana present – so to say Sienna’s birthday was bittersweet is an understatement!

It was nice to get back into something that I LoVe to do though. Sienna loves rainbows so this year’s birthday theme for her has been rainbow colours with purple as the predominant colour. I’ve always wanted to try a 6 layer rainbow cake and when I showed it to Sienna, she was so excited to be getting that as her birthday cake. This is how it turned out….

Sienna loved it as did everyone and I was extremely happy with my first attempt at a rainbow cake – one of my favourite cakes to date!

All in all Sienna had a wonderful 5th birthday filled with lots of love, fun and laughter. She was very spoilt and got a beautiful assortment of presents from one direction merchandise to matching nike shoes like mine. But her favourite present that she hasn’t put down is her microphone…we may have a singer and dancer on our hands! After such a turmoil month, I sincerely hope Sienna’s birthday marks the beginning of many happy memories for our family!

Thank you to everyone for all of Sienna’s birthday wishes and for anyone who helped make our little girl’s 5th birthday extra special!

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: